Playing piano by numbers can be an excellent way to get children interested in music without the burden of reading music, which often turns off kids.
Utilizing the number system also makes learning melodies and chords simpler, an essential aspect of becoming a musician.
Number Sequence
Conventional piano teachers typically emphasize reading music is essential to teaching children the piano; otherwise they’d quickly lose interest and quit. Yet these same teachers rarely acknowledge that their method causes children frustration and confusion from day one – contributing to an incredible quit rate of 90% of conventional piano students!
Reading musical notes may not be hard for children, but that doesn’t make it any less challenging; rather, their initial piano lessons don’t equip them to communicate in this form of language. Many teachers ask kids to memorize letters before teaching numbers and symbols that represent them – leaving no context in which to succeed at playing the piano.
Piano by Number offers children an ideal starting point. Instead of forcing them to decipher complicated symbols on sheet music, we use simple numbers as a foundation on which they can build their piano skills – similar to how reading is taught with alphabet letters followed by numbers.
Piano by Number makes the transition between simple number sequences and chord playing simple and straightforward. Beginning with a major scale, every note in the musical alphabet is assigned a number, adding them all up gives an octave which can then be played together to create chords.
All popular music chords follow this structure. When you see symbols that resemble degree signs (i, iii, etc), this indicates a major chord. These happy and joyful-sounding chords can be found everywhere from pop songs, blues songs and country tunes all the way through to classic jazz tunes and opera arias.
Playing songs with chords is not only a great way to socialise with friends, but can also serve as practice for when it’s time to move away from Piano by Number music and transition into conventional piano music. Our books ‘THE BIG BOOK OF SONGS BY NUMBER and EASY CLASSICAL PIANO include songbook versions of all our Number Series songs plus chord indications for both hands.
Chord Structure
Musical notation can be confusing for beginners, particularly at first. Piano by numbers provides students with confidence when transitioning into traditional sheet music notation.
The number sequence serves as the cornerstone of both melody and harmony, helping us understand how notes relate to one another while also determining chord structure – whether we’re looking at C major scale, for instance, or another minor scale like G minor scale. Furthermore, it explains why we need to go up or down scales when performing certain chord progressions.
To understand how number sequences work, we need to gain an understanding of intervals. An interval refers to the space between two notes that can either be whole steps or half steps apart; an interval can exist anywhere between C to D chord and D to G chord which both contain one full step between their notes while D to G chord contains only half-step between notes.
Chords are usually written using capital letters above the staff; however, on occasion they’ll also be designated using numbers. Most often these symbols serve as guides for which finger to use when playing each chord – for instance a C/G chord would feature an upper case C in your right hand and an lowercase G in your bass guitar strings.
There is a wide array of chords – major, minor, diminished and augmented – which can add tension and drama to a piece of music, as well as stir up emotion when ending songs. Knowing more chords will widen your repertoire!
Knowing how to read chords will not only make learning chords fun, but will make acquiring new pieces of music much simpler. Most songs you hear every day rely on chord progressions – understanding their structure is key if you want to play any piece!
Major chords are created by combining the first, fourth, and fifth notes of a scale into chords that combine all three notes at once. Understanding these chords will allow you to craft melodies and harmonies that correspond with any given piece of music in its key.
Voicings and Tones
Knowledge of piano chords becomes easier with knowledge of their number sequence. Recognizability of 1st, 3rd and 5th tones for any Major chord is readily apparent; when these tones are combined in open voicing they can produce completely different sounds than when played in root position triad. This is because their structures don’t adhere to a standard chord progression as seen with root position triad.
Once you’ve mastered basic open voicings, expanding your chord vocabulary by adding extra tones (known as extensions or tensions ) can create richer voicings. For instance, adding a 9th to your basic chord can add jazzy tone – these extra tones are called extensions or tensions and they can be added either at the top or bottom of a chord voicing.
Jazz pianists also employ “rootless” voicings, whereby they remove the root note of a chord in favor of an extension tone instead. This technique works great for creating space in band arrangements with multiple bass players taking care of bass lines, as it helps avoid having to double up on root notes which could otherwise create clashes and harsh notes in your voicings.
One way to add extra tones to a basic chord is by spreading out its tones across both hands. For instance, you could create a richer sounding chord by playing root and 3rd in your left hand while 7th, 11th, 13th (guide tones) are played in your right. Be wary of using too many doubled tones as this could create too dense sound that it becomes difficult to hear anything else but the music.
Finally, to alter the color of a chord by moving its middle tone down or up one half-step. A minor chord can be created by shifting its third into C or up into D – you may hear this called a slash chord because of two sharps appearing within its structure but in reality this is simply another form of minor chord.
Getting Started
Playing piano by numbers may be the perfect solution for those wanting to learn piano but are unwilling or unable to invest the time needed in learning how to read music, without investing too much effort into memorizing how it all works. This method uses landmark notes (those that stand out on the page) as markers, then moves on based on their relationships to one another – making it easier to follow musical shapes more intuitively than traditional sheet music.
Piano by Number is an effective method to introduce children to piano playing as it eliminates the need to read music at the outset, helping reduce the 90% quit rate associated with conventional teaching methods.
Playing the piano offers numerous advantages that go well beyond simply learning a new skill. It provides people with a way to express themselves, connect with others, boost moods and feel happier; act as an excellent exercise that strengthens muscles while improving posture; bring people together for lasting memories!
No matter your approach to piano playing, music reading is a necessary skill. This involves understanding key signatures, accidentals and expression marks; accidentals alter the pitch of notes while keys determine tonality and mood of pieces of music.
Learning piano scales is also essential. These include major and minor scales that will define the key of a song and assist with improvisation; major scales are most frequently found in popular music while minor ones offer a more melancholic sound.
Beginning piano can be daunting for children. Finding an approach that enables them to start at their own pace while learning basic piano skills will be critical in keeping many from quitting within a year – Piano by Number has an exceptional success rate in helping kids begin this new musical adventure!